DD Volume 1 Part 2.4

2. Hunger (4)

Yeonsoo stood up, pale, after a long time. Without even thinking about tidying up, he opened the messenger window. He pounded on the keyboard as if he were crazy.

I watched the encrypted video. What is this? It’s a person. A person died! To conduct such an experiment. Have they all gone mad?

As if waiting, the reply came immediately.

That’s not an experiment record.

What do you mean? Then what is it?

It’s a scene accidentally captured by the camera installed in the lab. The dead man is one of our research team members. He jumped into the tank on his own.

What?

What?

It’s not just one person. There are a total of two deceased researchers

He burst out laughing at the absurdity.

So, Kang Ki-joon’s statement that two researchers lost their lives was not a joke but a fact. He was just pretending it was a lie. It was inevitable. Playing with people’s lives. D*mn it.

Was it Subject 10 who killed the other person?

That’s right. Did I mention that Beresht emits unusual sound waves?

What does that have to do with this incident?

The reason the researchers jumped into the tank is because of the sound waves. When humans are exposed to Beresht’s sound waves, they feel an impulse to jump into the water. It’s a very intense impulse that’s hard to resist. Since Beresht kills humans who jumps in like that, it’s almost like a suicidal impulse.

Goodness. A sound that mesmerizes humans to death. It reminded him of a mythical creature that lured and devoured sailors with its beautiful singing voice. This is truly unbelievable. In a research center that should be the epitome of scientific rigor inland, incredibly unscientific events were instead occurring.

We’ve seen records of similar incidents before the Great Shift, but this is the first time we’ve actually witnessed it. It happened after all 10 of us came to the center.

Were the deceased researchers not wearing the safety devices?

We speculate that one of them probably forgot to wear it by mistake. And the other one captured in the video…

The message “typing” blinked on the screen. After a few seconds, another message appeared.

He voluntarily took it off.

Why?

Because he loved it.

Yoon-soo’s fingers, which were resting on the keyboard, abruptly stopped.

Love? He loved it?

I felt something was off. Before that incident, he was almost obsessed with it, locked up in the lab. There were times when he couldn’t even hear the sounds around him and just stared at the experimental subjects. There were times when he skipped meals and collapsed in front of the tank. He was so obsessed to an abnormal extent. And in the end, he ended up doing such a thing.

His fingertips grew cold. He recalled his desperate attempts to teach about the cube to it, to an extent that it seemed strange.

Of course, love or whatever that is, that’s what’s Alex’s impression. I just think he was just mesmerized. They’re inherently such beings, after all. Capturing prey by mesmerizing them with their beautiful appearance is a hunting technique used by other species too, isn’t it?

He might have been mesmerized himself.

Shall I tell you one more horrifying fact? After the incident, all the bones, flesh, and internal organs were recovered, but the heart was not found. It is not captured in the footage, but I speculate that the subject must have eaten it. Such a refined taste, only eating the heart.

Sigh. He dazedly lowered his head and looked down at his knees. The end of his knees was trembling.

It’s a carnivorous species. Emitting highly dangerous sound waves. Strong enough to pluck a human spine out in one go. There’s a lot of information not recorded in the official reports besides these. Perhaps we’re almost clueless about it.

Apart from its unrealistic beauty, he thought it might be a “human-like” existence. He believed that there would be some message mixed in its gaze. But…

Do you understand what I’m saying? A monster disguised in a beautiful shell. It’s said to be the most dangerous species in the world, that thing.

It was not.

The reproduction between such a creature and a human. Even if such a thing is biologically possible, who would dare to attempt it unless they are insane?

It’s likely that he was so naive because he knew nothing about its existence.

Even though I have looked at it countless times, I still feel creepy when I look into its eyes. I don’t know why, but it feels like it is looking down on me, even though it is just an imprisoned subject and I am the researcher who is supposed to be superior. It’s just a dirty feeling that it is playing with me, matching my every move. I have no choice but to participate, but I really hate and feel disgusted by this project.

With that message, Kei turned off his messenger.

Yeonsoo walked to the bathroom. He brought a wet towel and wiped the vomit on the floor. His hands kept trembling, making it difficult to do it properly.

The cruel scenes he just saw replayed in his head.  The image of a face being licked persistently where the eyeballs were missing was vividly etched in his brain.

In the end, he just threw the towel and sat down on the floor. He stared into space with a blank expression.

Deep emerald eyes, like the abyss that was staring at him.

Was it because of its hunger that it stared at me so intently?

Did it…want to devour me?

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Yeonsoo was in a dark sea. He swam freely in the empty ocean. His body felt light as if his physical body had disappeared and only his soul remained.

And then, he encountered it.

A huge and beautiful creature. It had the body of a human with the tail of a fish.

It looked familiar, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t remember where he had seen it. His head was hazy like a fog, and he felt dazed.

Yeonsoo swam towards it without hesitation. Wrapping his arms around its thick neck, he nestled into its embrace. Everything felt natural to him.

Mysterious eyes looked down at him like a blue nebula.

[T/N: This phrase employs the idiom “푸른 성운” (blue nebula), which is used metaphorically to describe something mysterious, enigmatic, or awe-inspiring. In this context, it conveys the sense of the gaze being profound and captivating, much like the beauty and intrigue associated with a blue nebula in space.]

In an instant, an unbearable thirst arose. Or was it hunger?

He couldn’t explain it. In the face of an unknown desire, he quickly lowered his head and pressed their lips together.

Lips that seemed cold turned out to be unbelievably hot. It felt like his skin was melting. He clumsily pushed his tongue in and wriggled it around.

The tongue of the creature, which had been stiff for a moment, began to move slowly. At the same time, a strong tail wrapped around his body like a horse’s muscle.

[T/N: This implies how really strong the tail entangled him like that strength of a horse.}

He closed his eyes, which he had not noticed before. The scales covering him were as soft and cozy as velvet, and Yeonsoo thought that if he were inside his mother’s womb, this might be how it would feel.

The tongue of the creature, which had been moving gently, gradually became more intense As if tasting, it licked his insides meticulously, leaving traces.

Mmm. Yeonsoo moaned softly, clinging even more.

Ah. His eyes twitched. A strange touch reached between his legs.

Ahh, wait.

Long and firm fingers explored his an*s, which no one had ever touched before.

No, this can’t be. This, this is too…

The fingers that were exploring around the opening suddenly pushed in.

Ugh, his brows furrowed in unfamiliar pain. Yeonsoo squirmed.

No, he tried to get away. But he couldn’t move because of the entangled tail.

The pain was brief. The finger carefully widened the inside, and the hole quickly adapted to its widening.

Huff, hah. Yeonsu kept letting out moans. Each time the firm finger pressed into the soft flesh, a strange sensation spread from his abdomen. He couldn’t explain why he felt this way.

His lips trembled and parted. Its fallen lips moved to his ear. It felt as though it were trying to say something. However, no sound could be heard. As the heat surged in his head, his consciousness gradually blurred.

What-what are you saying?

What are you trying to do to me?

Suddenly, one more finger came in. Yeonsoo trembled as if he had been pierced. It hurt. So much so that tears naturally form. Unlike the first time, it moved violently. It bent its knuckles and scratched the inside as if digging, and at times it also spread its fingers wide enough to smooth out the wrinkles of the hole.

Ah. Ouch. It hurts. It hurts. Stop. Stop.

Yeonsoo pleaded, barely swallowing his screams.

But it didn’t stop.

On the contrary, one finger grew longer. Three fingers began to thrash wildly inside the hole.

Hah. Yeonsoo’s eyes shot open at the sudden sharp pain. A hidden claw between its fingers had pierced his delicate inner wall.

It must have torn inside. He felt a warm liquid seeping in.

Ugh. Sob.

Yeonsoo burst into tears. He cried like a child while hanging from it.

It hurts. Stop, stop.

The slippery tongue licked his tears. It felt like the tongue was melting on the skin as it touched. The tongue that had been roaming all over his face now reached the corner of his eye. The tip of the tongue traced the area under his densely packed eyelashes, brushed past the eyes, and moved upward smoothly.

It painstakingly licked his eyeball. Yeonsoo froze and he couldn’t breathe. The pressure from the probing tongue gradually increased. It felt like his eyeballs would be gouged out completely. He feels like it would be removed.

This situation was bizarre where his eyeballs were being squeezed and it was being licked. But what was even more bizarre was his own perception of this situation. As time passed, the pain diminished. The fear coursing through his body also subsided. Instead, a sensation emerged that made his skin tingle, much like before.

Haah. Ha. Ha.

Yeonsoo gasped for air. The fingers inside him spread and twisted as if they had a mind of their own, poking and prodding at the sensitive spots of his inner walls like it was stamping. It felt as if torn flesh was being shredded apart inside of him.

His vision blurred. As his senses were overwhelmed, his thoughts evaporated.

He met its gaze again. His own reflection appeared in its emerald eyes. A bizarre and cruel act, as if instigating vile deeds, immersed in ecstasy, moaning.

The corners of its red lips curled up. It seems like it wants to say something again.

At some point, the tail, which tightly entangled him, loosened. Yeonsoo bent down on his own and pressed his upper body against its torso.

He tilted his ear, wanting to hear what it was saying.

Its gentle voice resonated in his mind.

‘I told you I want to eat you.’

Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.

Yeonsoo shuddered and opened his eyes wide.

Even though he had fully awakened from the dream, his chest heaved as if he were still sobbing, clinging to it like he was in the dream.

Crazy…

He cursed as he rose from the sweat-drenched spot.

Suddenly, he realized. That his underwear was damp with a sticky liquid. It was a wet dream.

Ugh. I’m crazy, really…

He closed his eyes tightly in shame and opened them again.

In the dream, he didn’t notice it, but upon waking up, it couldn’t be more vivid. The ‘thing’ in the dream was clearly Beresht from the lab.

It was because of ‘it’ that he had a wet dream. Even though he saw such videos last night.

Is it because he have a tendency to get excited about something as grotesque as that? It was a mystery why he had such a crazy dream.

Once again, taking a deep breath, Yeonsoo buried his face in his hands.